ForceGuide

A new PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) targeting Mac users has been detected by infosec researchers. Named ForceGuide, this particular application is capable of functioning both as adware and a browser hijacker. As a result of having ForceGuide present on their Mac systems, users will be subjected to numerous intrusive advertisements while their browser will be forced to open an unfamiliar site. 

The delivered advertisements cannot be trusted, as they may lead to shady third-party websites. To add a sense of legitimacy, the unwanted pop-ups, surveys, banners, and in-text links may be injected into the websites viewed by the user as if they originate from there. 

At the same time, the homepage, new page tab, and the default search engine of the installed Web browsers may be modified to open a promoted address. Typically, the goal of the browser hijackers is to generate as much artificial traffic towards a particular fake search engine as possible. Fake engines are characterized by their inability to generate any results. Whenever a search query is initiated in a fake engine, it will be redirected to a legitimate one (Yahoo, Bing and Google).

Finally, users also have to worry about the possibility of the PUP spying on their browsing activities silently. The entire browsing history, search history, clicked URLs, and more, could be packaged and then transmitted to a remote server. Additional information, such as device details or even payment data that has been saved into the affected browser also may be harvested.